Anastasia: the game Nadezhda Kosintseva - Ruan Lufei was drawn. What was your expectation before the game. Did you have in mind to fight for a victory today?

Nadezhda: of course I wanted to fight today, moreover I was playing White.

Nadezhda: of course I wanted to fight today, moreover I was playing White today. I went for the English defence today which I play very rarely, I did not want to play again the Berlin defence. I just wanted to play chess, without long and forced variations. I think that during the game I had a slight advantage as a result of non precise moves. After that Ruan did not let me play d4. She blocked this line and my position was worse for sure. I think I would prefer to play this position with Black. My blunder is just a miscalculation. In fact the variation was simple, nothing complicated. But I spent a lot of time to calculate some stupidities.

Ruan: of course I did not expect my opponent to start with c4. I did not prepare for this line. I wanted to play today some solid position, that is why I chose c4 е5. I was satisfied with my position although I think White was better. But also I believe I did not have any weakness. To my mind Nadya's move on e4 was a bit early. Maybe she should have waited a bit and play e4 later. The truth is that my opponent had only one weakness. If she would have another one, I could have attacked her and fight for a score.

The final round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Rostov-on-Don was marked with a remarkable event. The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who came to take pary in the Closing Ceremony, signed an agreement on implementing the FIDE programme Chess in schools into the educational institutions of Rostov region. The President of the Rostov region Chess Federation Sergey Nesterov, the acting Minister of Education of Rostov region Marina Mazaeva and the Deputy Minister of the Physical Culture, Tourism and Sport of Rostov region Igor Potapov took part in the signing of the agreement.

The FIDE programme Chess in schools is already implemented in the several districts of the Russian Federation. Now Rostov region joined the number of the educational institutions where chess is a school subject.

Photos of the signing the agreement could be found in the Photo gallery of the site

Round 11. Final report

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Hou Yifan became a sole winner of the first stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix in Rostov-on-Don! In 11 round playing white World Champion made a draw against Antoanetta Stefanova, fixed a victory in the tournament and killed all hopes for the first place of following her Tatiana Kosintseva and Katerina Lahno. Ukrainian Katerina Lahno managed to make a draw against Humpy Koneru and became second in the tournament with 7 points. Tatiana Kosintseva was defeated by Alisa Galliamova and shared the third place together with Anna Muzychuk who managed to make a draw against Elina Danielian. Nadezhda Kosintseva drew the game against Ruan Lufei and missed the opportunity to fight for the prize places.
During the press-conference after the game the winner of the tournament Hou Yifan shared her feelings about the tournament and her play: “I like the organization of the tournament. It was comfortable for me to stay here and I really enjoyed playing in this strong event. Of course I’ll be very glad if I have a chance to come back here again and participate in more tournaments. Sometimes it’s normal to lose one game during the tournament… So I just decided to continue playing normally last two rounds and I’m glad everything finished well.“

The next stage of FIDE Women Grand Prix is going to be in Shenzhen China from 6th till 20th of September. Thank you for following our web site!

Round 10 - Special Analysis by GM Kiselev

Sunday, 14 August 2011

GM Kiselev regals us with two games from round 10 which he found very interesting :

The first is former World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova against GM Katrina Lahno from Ukraine.

Anastasia: Ekaterina, what do you think about the idea of Grand Prix and the fact that the first stage of this series is taking place in your native city Rostov-on-Don?

Ekaterina: When three years ago FIDE had this idea to organize this series, I was happy not only because I was qualified but also because the issue of women’s chess that I love so much was paid attention at. I remember my conversation with Kirsan Nikolaevich about 10 years ago when he was telling me about Men’s Grand Prix and said that the time would come when we will hold Women’s Grand Prix as well. I appreciate the fact that they have worked out a competent system of round tournaments where the best women chess players have an opportunity to face each other and it is wonderful that they can play a number of round tournaments instead of looking for some other events thus preparing for GP series, World Championship cycle and perform themselves.

Surely, for me it was a surprise when I received a phone call from the President of the Chess Federation of Rostov Region Mr. Nesterov who told me that FIDE President had proposed to hold this Stage of Grand Prix here in Rostov-on-Don and that the federation was ready to undertake the organization. He also informed me that since I come from Rostov I was nominated to participate. It was a pleasant and at the same time shocking news, because at that moment my son turned only three months. I did not think much about chess, however, at the same time it was easy for me to take a decision.